Marcus T. Collins
Antioch High School
Physics, Physical Science, and Computer Aided Drafting 

Dr. Clare McCabe – Molecular Modeling Lab

My RET experience in Dr. McCabe’s lab was a very enjoyable and informative one. The research conducted by Dr. McCabe and Oleg Mazyar, a postdoctoral researcher in nanoscale lubrication, is dealing with molecular modeling.

The project that I worked on involved creating a simulation of how an ionic liquid would behave on a monolayer of hydrocarbon chains on a gold surface. That information would then be rendered into a simulation of how two of these surfaces would move past each other. The simulation calculated the interactive forces and velocities these atoms experience and predicted whether or not this ionic liquid would “wet” the surface. This was achieved by determine the contact angle for the droplet. If the angle was more than 90 degrees, then the substance would not wet the surface and would not be a good lubricant. The experience was a very interesting and enjoyable one in that I got to use graphic simulating software, upload data to super computers, and work with really great people.

I plan on using the par t of the research that pertains to the frictional forces that these two surfaces experience in my physics or physical science class when I discuss Forces and Laws of Motion. The unit will incorporate activities dealing with static and kinetic friction.